Qatar referee controls Vietnam's most difficult match in 2026 World Cup qualifiers
FIFA referee Al Marri Abdulla and his compatriots were assigned by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to officiate the match between Vietnam and Iraq at My Dinh Stadium on November 21 within the framework of the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup.
Mr. Al Marri Abdulla was born in 1992 and has officiated 38 matches at all levels. This Qatari referee has never shown a red card in his refereeing career since becoming a FIFA referee in 2018.
Mr. Al Marri has only refereed 3 international friendly matches between national teams, including Iceland vs. Estonia, Sweden vs. Finland, and Oman vs. Ecuador. Most of the matches he has officiated have been at club level in the AFC Champions League and AFC Cup.
The 31-year-old "King in Black" once officiated a match involving the Vietnamese team. At that time, Mr. Al Marri operated the VAR room in the match between Vietnam and Australia on September 7, 2021, in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, also at My Dinh Stadium.
In addition, Mr. Al Marri Abdulla was the VAR referee in the match between the Netherlands Women's Team and Portugal at the 2023 Women's World Cup. Those are also the two opponents in the same group with the Vietnam Women's Team in this tournament.
Two assistant referees of referee Al Marri are also Qatari, Khalaf Khaled and Alshammari Faisal. The fourth referee is Mr. Albadowe Ahmad Bin Ahmad (Singapore).
The second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup is also the first official tournament for coach Philippe Troussier. In the previous 6 friendly matches, the Vietnam team won 3 and lost 3. Of which, there were 3 consecutive losses during the FIFA Days in October against China 0-2, Uzbekistan 0-2 and South Korea 0-6.